Petition for the Professional Boxers Pension Plan October 31, 2007

The Retired Boxers Foundation is proud to announce an online petition asking all sports fans to sign their names to the petition that proposes a $1 surcharge on every boxing ticket sold for professional boxing, for the purpose of initiating a nationwide Professional Boxers Pension Plan. The petition is located at: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/help-create-a-professional-boxers-pension-plan

Professional Boxing is the only sport that does not have a nationwide pension plan for retired athletes. 87% of professional boxers end their career with some kind of damage. For some, there are brain injuries, neurological and/or physical damage, and for too many, these injuries lead to homelessness, substance abuse issues, psychiatric disorders and dementia pugilistica (the medical term for being “punch drunk”).

In 1998, retired professional boxer, Alex “The Bronx Bomber” Ramos started the Retired Boxers Foundation to assist these fighters in the transition from their glorious days in the ring to a dignified retirement. It has been a high priority to look into the existing pension situation, and the possibilities for a sport in which the athlete is considered “self employed” or a “contract worker.” We always knew that if golfers and jockeys could have pensions, there had to be a way for professional boxers to have a pension as well.

Only one state offers a boxer’s pension–California–and it charges the fans $.89 per ticket sold at each boxing show, resulting in a pension that pays approximately $2.00 a round in their retirement. For a boxer like Alex Ramos, it would amount to $150 a month, which is clearly not enough to live on. If EVERY STATE charged $1 per ticket sold, Alex would have retired with a monthly income of nearly $1,200 a month. Legendary greats like Emile Griffith would get $184 per month in his retirement just from the 92 rounds he fought in California. Imagine the total if you could include all of his fights, some of which were 15 rounds each!

The Retired Boxers Foundation is tired of waiting around for a boxers pension and we don’t have the financial resources to conduct a nationwide (or world wide, for that matter) campaign. We decided to do an online petition to draw attention to the need and to prove that the fans wouldn’t mind one little bit, paying a dollar on a ticket to a boxing show for the benefit of the professional boxers who entertain them. If the powers that be in boxing (whoever they are) are not willing to initiate a nationwide pension for retired professional boxers, then we will–with the help of sports fans around the country! If the petition gets enough signatures, we can pursue a nationwide pension plan, but it will take LOTS of signatures. We need your help!

In a nutshell, the petition says:
We, the undersigned fans of the sport of boxing, would gladly pay an extra $1 for every ticket sold to a professional boxing event, so that professional boxers, who risk their lives for our entertainment, have a decent pension when they retire!

The mission of the Retired Boxers Foundation, an IRS Nonprofit corporation, is to assist retired professional boxers, in the transition from their glorious days in the ring to a dignified retirement. Particular attention is made to assist those who have left the sport with physical, emotional or neurological damage; especially those suffering from alcohol and substance abuse problems, homelessness and the affects of pugilistic dementia (the medical term for “punch drunk”). The Retired Boxers Foundation was created by Alex “The Bronx Bomber” Ramos, who is himself disabled. For more information on the Retired Boxers Foundation, please visit our site at www.retiredboxers.org.